How to Write a Successful Common App Activities List in 2023

The Common App activities section is where students can show their creativity in the best way possible. They can give specific examples of what they have done in the past few years. They can show the examiner their personality by focusing on what they are good at and how they can achieve different things in their lives. The activity list section in the common app is one where students can go above and beyond the prompts given and come up with their uniqueness. 

When you’re making the common app activity list, make sure that you first focus on your likes and dislikes to make things exceptionally well concentrated on yourself. This activity section of the common app allows you to put your creativity to best use to develop something in the best way. Given that you only get around 150 characters for this, you need to make sure that you give it your best and thoughtfully use your words. 

With these extracurricular activities, the examiner can understand how you are unique and your passion and interests. You have to realize that you are a part of EdTech, and you have to use Common App for your benefit. It can make them know you in a much better way. Carl Honore spoke about extra-curricular activities, saying, “When it comes to extracurricular activities, many children are getting too much of a good thing.” What is most essential for you to do when making your common app activities list is that you spend a considerable amount of time planning it. You don’t yet realize how crucial this plays in making your application much more robust. These days, colleges want to know more about who you are as a person, which is exactly what this allows you to tell them. You can read up on a college essay example to see how they focus on that and why it is important. 

Tips to Write a Good Common App Activity List 

These tips can help you make your college application and activity list much stronger. It can also help you with your common app activity list to up your game when writing. 

1. Use stronger verbs 

You need to make sure that you use verbs that leave an impact on the other person. They should be strong enough to have a lasting impact. When you spend considerable time thinking, you will understand why this is important and how adequate planning can help to make your common app activity list much more attractive. 

 2. Develop better content 

Make sure that the content that you write is very rich. It has to be inclusive of all the things you think are essential to highlight. Make sure that you add in your problem-solving skills and how you use them to make a significant impression. So this is something that you need to focus on to greatly make your common app essay attractive. You can also write a college essay example at first to help yourself see where you stand and how you can improve over time. 

3. Demonstrate skills and values 

Show your examiner that you have and how you can display that to become much better, or you already play an important social role. The examiner has to understand how you’re different and what you have to make yourself better than the others. 

The last step for this section is to watch this video :

Three Useful Tools for Activity list Common App

These three useful tools can help you level up your game. It can be very useful for common app essay help. 

• Excellent list of verbs

So if you are great at debating, then this is what you should NOT write like to avoid failure in common app activity list:

Debated on different topics, attended several competitions, and conducted research.

This is something that they already know and understand. So you need to be more precise, and you need to use stronger verbs.  

Here’s what you can say:

I led some research and guided my team on certain debate topics. I mentored a few people younger than me and hosted a debate tournament. 

The verbs in this passage make it easier for the examiner to understand what you are talking about and how that can help them. It makes you differentiate yourself from the rest. They also see your use of language here, which shows them why you are an asset to them. So for common app essay help, you can use this tip. Showing your additional knowledge and unique experience will help you 

The BEABIES Exercise to Make Your Activity List Common App Successful

BEABIES is an acronym for Best Extracurricular Activity Brainstorm I’ve Ever Seen. This exercise can help you form a list, which can be helpful for you when trying to jot down your extracurriculars. This exercise will make it much easier for you to come up with different activities that are very useful. Ask yourself questions like what you do every day, what tasks you missed out on, what tasks made you have, what you would do differently from now on, and so on. These will help you come up with a very useful list that you can then put to best use while preparing your common app activity list to become attractive. 

1. The Values scan 

This is something that can help the examiner see what values are important to you and how they make a very useful part of your life. You need to talk about what makes you unique and how you follow these to make your life more fruitful. That can help you make things much better than they appear at first sight in your common app essay, so it would be recognized as well prepared and inspired. A few values that describe you as a person can be organized, reliable, good communication, etc. These show who you are as a person and why you are unique in your ways. For every activity that you write down, come up with values. These can help you show the examiner who you are and is indeed something very useful in talking about you as a person. The value scan can be great common app essay help for you and help you work towards your goals in the activity list. 

To make your activity list common app stand out from the rest, you need to make sure that you go above and beyond what the others are doing. It is crucial and can help you stand out from the rest of the common app essays, and your score will be much higher. There are so many interesting facts, articles and sources that can help you with any task for a common app, you just have to focus on main steps and the result will surprise you.

Tips to Make Your Activity List Stand Out 

Here are a few tips that can help you when you are trying to make a very useful activity list. 

• Focus on variety

Make sure that you have a variety of things you are talking about. This doesn’t mean that you use different words for the same thing. Instead, it would help to focus on using several words that focus on other things. This is very important and can allow you to come up with many useful things that can make the examiner know so much about you. 

• Use present tense

It would help if you focused on using the present tense. It can help you show the examiner how you are focused on the present and how you intend to make an impact on the others around you by doing this. 

• Trim your words down 

Sometimes, we use unnecessary words that don’t add any value to what we are writing. They make everything sound very redundant, which is not something that reflects positively on you. So, once you are done writing, go through everything again to be sure that you aren’t using extra words that add no value. Trim them down if you are. A well-balanced common app activity list can show not only the strong sides of your personality but will also show the sides you want to work out and are not afraid to say so. 

• Focus on measurable impact 

Make sure that you use powerful words. For example, saying something like ‘there were many people, there is not as important as saying something like ‘there were 400 people there.’ Examiners are looking for something specific enough to know exactly what you are talking about. 

• Focus on responsibilities 

Show them all you are responsible for and why that shows you as a great leader. Show them what all you can do and why they are different from the rest. Use strong words that reflect who you are as a leader in the common app activity list. 

• Describe selectively 

Make sure that you don’t describe everything together. Instead, focus on the few things you think can make a big difference and add to who you are. When you do that, you make the examiner much more focused, enabling them to understand what you want to tell.

• Avoid extreme language 

When you use extreme language, it makes you sound desperate, which is the last thing you want. On the other hand, you need to impact the examiner positively, and for this, you must focus on things very well. This article will also help you to understand the way your examiner thinks like. 

• Tell the truth

Make sure that you don’t go exceptionally overboard in trying to impress. You have to make sure that you tell the truth, the examiner has been in this business for a long time, and they can easily tell when you are trying too much. So you need to make sure you don’t go above and beyond and speak the truth in your common app activities list. 

Summary

Finally here is a useful example of the common ap activity list that encompasses all that has been put across here:

“Member, (9th,10th) Treasurer (11th, 12th)

National Honors Society, Ridgefield High School Chapter

We are amongst the highest academically achieving students at our school, who collectively and consistently participate in community service projects.”

With these useful tips, you should be able to write a successful common app activity list. Every step you take in making your activity list will help make a great impression on the examiner, so the chances go higher, and your self-confidence will rise. So be yourself, be charismatic and clever at the same time but reading and developing new skills in writing will definitely help you benefit in the future.